on domestic manuals of the 19th century and how they trapped women in home forever. so yes, they were highly influenced. yes. well, hi. very information. thank you. do you have books published on and can they be found? not that i've written? there that there are a number of books on subject. i was hoping to one from you. well, aren't you, sweetie. thank you for saying that. anything else? well, thank you for listening.

ladies and gentlemen, the honorable mike johnson, speaker, the united states house of representatives well, welcome to you all good afternoon and and i want to welcome my democratic

katherine clark my fellow members of congress lieutenant governor henderson, the cannon family and the sculptor of this great statue, ben hammond, as is speaker of the house i have the privilege of welcoming you to the capital on this very special occasion. our building is filled with monuments, our nation's history. and as those men and women stand tall, they remind us of where we have been, where we are, and where we are going. today. martha hughes cannon joins ranks as one who exemplifies the pioneering of the american west martha and her parents to america to settle the west and to follow their dreams. but along the journey her sister died and just days after arriving her father. their dreams of settling the west and building a life in america were cut. but that adversity and heartache gave birth to a new dream for martha to become a doctor. oftentimes through our own suffering, we learn that we can comfort others who go through

similar, similar struggles. that's what she did. rather than spiral in despair, as some might have. martha used her skills and her talents to help those around her. first, she got a degree in chemistry at what is now the university of utah, and then she got a degree in medicine from the university of michigan. she was the only woman. her class of 75. and even though she was forced to sit separately from the men. she persevered nonetheless. and then after she got her m.d., if that wasn't enough, she back to get a third degree. this time in public speaking. she wanted to speak about her, and she became indeed a bold and inspiring orator. so much so that she spoke in her state and around country. and even before the house right here in washington. she to the house judiciary committee for, the cause of women's rights and women's. and after one of her famous speeches concerning suffrage at the chicago world's fair in may

of 1893, the chicago record said this about her, quote mrs. dr. martha hughes. is considered one of the brightest exponents of the women's cause in the united states. pretty high praise her position gave her gave rise to her popularity within utah territory where she became the first female state senator anywhere in the country. and that's an amazing feat. she served to a term there and she used her position for the good of others in the legislature. martha led the effort to establish a state board of health and she introduced bills to establish a school for the deaf and blind. she wasn't when she wasn't in office, she was running her practice and she had a lot going on and as the youngest head surgeon at the newly established hospital, which is an female medical institution, she used her skills, talents and experience to serve others and

all grateful that she did. it's to our disappointment that we don't know more about her and that she didn't. we don't have more of her writings as, history records, some of were burned at her request. she was humble, too. apparently but. but we do know enough to be to welcome her in marble and to have her stand alongside so many great americans. as you know. every state only gets two statues and it is a high honor for a state to choose an individual to serve in that place. we're so grateful you're here. thank you so much. ladies and gentlemen, please stand the presentation of the colors by the utah highway patrol, the performance of our national anthem by the utah national guard's 23rd army band brass quintet, and the retiring of the color.

of.

ladies and gentlemen, please remain standing, wanting to pay attention delivered by the president. you and release the general president of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. our father in heaven. it is with grateful hearts that we bow our heads the this

glorious afternoon. and in this grand emancipation hall to express our thanks to the for the blessings has poured out upon this nation and its people. and today we are assembled to honor martha hughes cannon, who in faith fulfilled her responsibility as a physician suffragette as a health care advocate, state senator and wife and mother. father in heaven. ask that this place will be one of inspiration. that is, people come to visit emancipation hall and view this statue that they will be inspired to lift and serve and love and collaborate. as martha hughes cannon did father weep that thou will continue to, pour out blessings

upon our nation and please bless and be with our elected officials our federal officials, our state and local officials them with wisdom. we pray, father in heaven, we may do thy will, and in thy way, and we pray for these things in the name of jesus christ. amen. please be seated. ladies and gentlemen the honorable katherine clark democratic whip of the united house of representatives representatives. good afternoon, speaker johnson. the utah delegation, lieutenant governor henderson and the cannon family, what an honor to welcome with you. this america kim pioneer to the capital, martha hughes cannon or

mattie as she preferred, has had quite the journey to get here. she was to arrive in 2020, a significant for women in america. it marked one century of suffrage. it was the year we first elected a woman, the vice presidency. but like the rest of us, mattie's travel plans in 2020 were delayed. i am grateful she has arrived amid this moment in our history. her presence reminds us the timeless american struggle, the pursuit, liberty and justice for through every of a nash, our national story. the american people have been confronted with same question will. we expand freedom and opportunity and dignity to more

people. or will we restrict power and privilege to few? the legacy of dr. martha hughes cannon is that history will always side with those like who fight for freedom raised by a widow immigrant mother and, a society that reserved power for men, madi allowed herself to imagine that inconceivable and then made it. she knew that by the time she was 25. dr. cannon was one of the very first women to practice medicine in utah. by age 47, under cannon had defeated her own husband at the ballot box and claimed her place history as our nation's first woman. state senate. and then she took the fight of

women's suffrage, securing voting rights in utah's new count stitution. and then she took that fight nationwide, wide, traveling across the country rallying support and building a movement that ultimately delivered the 19 amendment. she knew that every break with precedent, every step toward equality wasn't just in service to her, it was in service. all americans. as senator cannon told the judiciary committee, the story of the struggle for women's suffrage in utah, the story of all efforts for the advancement and betterment of human unity. may we worthy recipients of the torch that she carried and made this statue be a reminder of what's possible to matty's

family. to ben hammond, the talented who captured her power, and to the leaders assembled here who made this day happen. thank you for honoring our capital and our history with moving and fitting addition. thank you. ladies and gentlemen, the honorable mike johnson, speaker, the united states house of representatives. we won't delay the proceedings much longer. we're going unveil the statue. but i just wanted to say, placement here is a great. it was just i think a couple months ago when we unveiled johnny cash there. okay. and i want to say location, location, location. okay. because they're going to be millions of visitors and lots of people coming to see probably one of the most famous statues

right next her. so there'll be a stunning couple here in the corner of the visitor center. um, i wanted you to know this is a good spot for you to. without any further ado, we are eager to show you this statue. and at this point, i will have. i'll ask whipped clerk to return up here. the utah delegation. all you. lieutenant governor henderson aaron wynn, mrs. brady and hammond. if you'll join me here and we will show everyone what we've got.

ladies and gentlemen, this our great granddaughter of martha hughes cannon. i'm grateful to here today representing the family of mark that you and andrew standing there, our 19 of her descendants here today. celebrating this event.

uh, but on behalf the family, i'd like to thank those who have made this event possible. uh, we've heard a lot of them today. they include, um, some of the following. not all. this does not include everybody. there's many people who have worked on this project, but they include. senator todd weiler and becky. uh edwards, who introduce to legislation making this statue. um uh, there's, uh, lieutenant governor deidre henderson. karen quan. jen roberson and island macbain. adam gardner.

aaron winn. sculptor. ben henderson. hammond. ron fox. as well as the members of the statue committee. and the better. better what it better. days 2020. who made this possible. this statue possible for us. uh, martha was known as mattie. was born in wales to peter hughes. and it elizabeth evans, who had joined the church of jesus christ of latter days, saints and emigre to the united states. uh, we're from wales when. um, when they family, um, were in the united states, they, um, had wait a little while before they could. migrate to utah financially.

the church helps the family their finances and going to utah. and, um. more recently have contributed significantly for paying for the statue. um um. the british has also recognized um, now these accomplishments and planning to place plaque in, in wales where she was born, in the house that she was born in. uh, um. i want to thank everyone who has contributed to making this day and this statue possible.

um hm. although it's september. something for me to talk a lot more about. maddie's accomplishments. my grandma mother always talked about her mother. and that from an early i knew about maddie. but recently we've learned a lot about maddie. there's a lot of people who have learned about her and about i probably learned some things today, too. the, um. we all recognize how extraordinary she was and that she's did so many things. um. she's gotten a lot of attention right? certainly. and, uh, leading up to this day and we realize how extraordinary she was for the time in which she lived, um, she was a well,

we've heard much about a medical doctor public health advocate, politician, suffragette, orator, life and mother. but devoted to her husband and her children. martha hughes cannon was woman ahead of her time at a time when women were primarily homemakers and mattie dreamed of something more. she had, uh, seen her younger sister as the family crossed the immigrated or migrated to utah and only three days after they arrived. her father died also, she looked around her in world in which she lived and. there were so many children that were sick, she.

decided that she wanted to do something about it. she she was affected by her deaths and family and she wanted to change things. so worked hard and she saved her money. she never lost sight of her goal to the medical knowledge in the east to the west. and as a result she kept that goal in sight. and uh, puts sakharov feist a lot in life and work hard to. prepare herself for that. what she wanted to do. she used the knowledge she worked so hard to obtain to make real changes in world in which

she lived. if she were alive today, she would still be seen as a remarkable. but there are many women as well as men who work hard and make trials and make sacrifices and contribute to making this world a better thank you. those of you who are here today for the queer eye for the hard work you do, may we do the best we to do our part thank you.

ladies and gentlemen, the honorable deidre the who and governor of utah. took us a long time to get here. several years ago, a mother brought her young daughter to visit the utah state capitol building, and she showed her a framed portrait of all the senators hanging the wall outside the senate chamber after studying the pictures for a few moments. the exasperated daughter said, oh, no, fair where are the girls

to that little girl? i say, we're right here and so are you. in 2016, i visited the library congress for the first time. i was impressed with the beauty of the building. the reading room is simply magnificent, filled with statues and paintings there are 16 bronze statues of important and accomplished men with names like beethoven, plato, shakespeare and moses. and there were also statues of women with names like religion, commerce law and history. each of the eight plaster female statues depicted allegorical women symbols of civilized

society, not real actual women. this realization not at me. and i began looking around the building and then around other areas in our nation's for depictions of real and there weren't i knew were women who had done incredible and important things and i wondered is it significant that they were not reflected in american? does it matter if we don't remember real women in tangible and intentional ways. a spanish philosopher once said, tell me what you pay attention to and i'll tell you who you are where is. our attention focused and what are we missing if we're only looking out of one eye, it's time to pay attention to? all those who worked for the betterment of humanity, including those like martha, who contributed their efforts to,

the movement of political freedom, equality and self-governance and the fight to give women equal political was the longest reform in an american and utah men and women led that fight this moment is the product of many years of effort. bring attention to our state's leadership in that long struggle. as martha her place in emancipation hall and becomes the 14th statue of a woman in. the national statuary hall collection. her story will be told to boys and girls, men and women from around the world who visit the seat of our free government. they will learn about tiny woman from utah who had a giant impact on the lives of so many people, an impact felt to day and they will learn that if an immigrant

pioneer woman in the 19th century can get an education and overcome persecution and discrimination claim own rights, make her community and state a better place and champion the rights of others so can they. the fact that dignitaries from martha's homeland of wales, representatives from, congress, leaders of the worldwide of jesus christ of latter day saints, including the presidents of the oldest and largest women's organization the world, the relief society, and hundreds of people traveled 2000 miles from utah to washington d.c. are here today is a tribute to. this woman herself and also a testament of what she symbolizes unlike the statues. i saw eight years ago in the library of congress. martha is a real woman and a

representation of who we are and what value as utahns and americans. martha means something to all of us. we have all found ourselves alone at times. we've all found ourselves feeling the sting of injustice or the. slights of being overlooked. we have all fought for change that. either never came or we didn't credit for we all championed a cause for which we care deeply and sacrificed. and we have all felt that maybe our efforts to our efforts do not amount to as much as we would like. so our calling is this to pick up where martha left off to do our little bit of good in the world to keep both eyes open and be intentional about remembering the past as we look to the future and. most importantly, to remember

that the arc of history bends toward equality and freedom and that today is not a culmination of our efforts but a continuation of them. thank you. ladies and the cold creek bluegrass band performing land of my fathers the welsh national anthem. won. land of mothers blues love over

to five or ten by --. country. the song had two songs by alice gary gary gray with girl and by bear. i over from my home mother, scarlet birch. water, grace snowdon and rainy days of your body fight for you.

my bonus show there coverage on daughter and school years all. our lives are hearts here sound their great way is this. stand. why wherever i love from my home the mother is calling. wells wells down stand by where am my love for my home the scarlet.

ladies and gentlemen, the honorable united states from the second district of utah. thank you. i am to be up here speaking to martha to the capital. i didn't do anything. get her here. i got her at the end of this process. but she did a lot to get me here. and i have a debt of to pay. and first, i have to thank the rest of the utah house delegation. i am the junior of the delegation, and in order for me

to be up here, all three of them had to pass on this opportunity to let the only woman in, our delegation, welcome our woman to the capital. and i really appreciate that. thanks, guys. i promise they're no less excited about this than i am. i, i've been in congress for one year, and in that year, i've spent a lot of time thinking about what it means to represent people. i suddenly represent 833,000 people and martha hughes cannon. matty now represents to who comes to the capitol, utah. we have two statutes. one is brigham young. one doesn't take any explanation. and and our other one is is martha hughes, cannon and going to stand here and represent our state. and as i was thinking about that. i, we let her represent us in her entirety tempting now over

100 years later to cherry pick parts of her story and, use her to prove a point, or try to make her fit a narrative that we now. but in order to represent well, we have to accept all of martha hughes cannon because that's what makes her so exceptional. in some ways, her story is a very common one. in utah, she she was an immigrant who came west to be with the saints in utah live her religion that's a story we're all really familiar with in utah. but there are also really complicated parts to her story later in after she was a doctor and one of the most educated women in utah, she was also the first wife in a polygamous marriage. and she ended up leaving utah and going back to wales to flee religious because the united states had decided she couldn't practice religion. that's part of her story. that's part of what makes her so remarkable. i hope. don't forget that part. she she she came from a family that had suffered loss. she lost her sister and her dad.

she grew up with a stepdad and step brothers again. it's a common story. it's one a lot of people share. and i hope we remember that part about. her she also wanted to be a doctor she had a dream of being a doctor. but when she decided to go to medical school, she was also answering a call from her prophet who encouraged women to go become doctors. utah was very much a frontier state and and primitive in a lot of ways, and she was part of the effort to help settle and make it a better place to live for all of us who came after her and hope you remember that part of her story. she wasn't just the second surgeon at the new hospital. she also lectures on obstetrics to women in frontier society, where the birth rate was really she spent her time making life better for the people around. she made giving birth to children on the frontier safer. as a state senator, she passed bills to protect women and children and the disabled and to make sure that the food was

clean and safe to consume. she was the west the new west the young west that was growing a safe place for families like hers after she accomplished all of her education was doctor was revered she wrote a letter to a classmate from medical school who said she wanted to be a wife and a mother. i think that's a remarkable part of story that we can't forget as a young girl who was raised by a widowed mother, she was a young mother who took her baby daughter to europe to escape persecution. she had to act like a single parent for a while. that's part of what makes her so remarkable. and i just hope as she stands here and represents that we let her be her and respect all of the things she represents because there's something in there speaks to everybody here. she she wasn't a one dimensional person. she's not a caricature from history. she was a woman who had to make a lot of choices in her life and over and over again, she chose to make life better for the people around her. and then in her later life, when

her health was bad, she chose to go live quiet life at sea level, which was better for her health. and and she asked that diaries be burned. so one thing we're not respecting here is her she's and i'm okay with that but i'm i'm so proud that when we get to people to represent utah in the capitol that, one of them is a quiet little woman who broke a lot of barriers, blazed a lot trails, but in some way followed a very path and did things the way she felt like she should do them. and i love that she i learned yesterday was only four foot 11. so i love that we have a statue here that's literally larger than life and that she's next to the man in black who also spent a lot of his time trying to help the oppressed. so you for letting me give the remarks today. ladies and gentlemen, the honorable mike lee, united

states senator, utah. it really is such a pleasure be with all of you for the unveiling of this amazing statue of this remarkable woman, a woman who broke barriers and continues inspire people from across our state and throughout the country to this very day. i also want to recognize three prominent leaders from the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. we with us today, elder geary stephenson of the home of the 12th, when we elder matthew hall on the corner of the 70 and we also have with us relief society general president camille johnson thank you and thank you for your support of this event. i also want to thank else who's made this possible. it really has been a long journey and by long i mean, the distance has been long, but the time has reflected a much greater distance. when celeste talks about the

journey that she made from wales eventually to utah and then eventually back to wales, it occurs to me that she would have been faster taking a handcart all the way from wales. i don't know how you push a hand across the water, but i'm sure it can be done. and then taking that same journey, trip several times she would have been faster than it's taken her to get here over the last few years after, the utah legislature authorized her her statue created the commission to put this year back in 2018, it began a process that brought us here to where we are today. and i'm so glad it's finally i do think that. one of the things that contributed to what she and cash stop for concerts every night and be a plate she enjoyed that music very much the tradition of placing a state themed statutes from each state is a fairly old one here. it began on july. 1864 when congress authorized

east state to to statutes of someone notable from their state to display at the capitol over time, the effort became the national statuary hall collection, a gathering of 100 figures, each selected by states that they represent to tell part of their state's story. when you look at these things were you reminded of something very significant about each state's story? when i walk through here, each figure represents me, something i imagine what it would be like late at night if they come alive when we're not here. what conversations she might have, what fights she might interrupt involving can kamehameha and whoever he decides take over that day i her as the voice of reason and wisdom and sound medical advice and care of course. but what we see here is a unique

result of the truly unique partnership between. each of the states that form part our great federation and, our nation's capital, each offers a real amazing into each state's character. it struggles its successes and some of the most significant people shaped it. it's an ongoing dialog between past and present between those who walked through these lands generation ago and those who wander through today. no visitor enters the capitol without feeling the subtle or sometimes not so subtle presence of these individuals whose varied paths collectively make up the american experience for utah. his statue represents a way to share our story with every visitor who steps into these halls from on field trips, discovering some cases for the first time, some the great

stories from the history of our nation, to leaders who have come here to help shape its future and even to foreign dignitaries getting insight into the values that we hold dear. martha hughes cannon statue will now stand these symbols of courage, of perseverance, of innovation, qualities that have come to define utah. and she these things exceptionally well. her presence here reminds that utah's is rich with those who have dared to make a difference. dare to different and her example challenges us to further that legacy. thank. ladies and gentlemen please stand for the benediction delivered by mr. blaine brady great great grandson of martha hughes cannon.

our dear, gracious and heavenly father, ask them out. bless these people who travel and are. so vital to the remembering of martha hughes cannon. we have so might license each as we travel the state that we might travel in safety. no harm early or accidentally haul follows. we ask them why bless the leaders of our country that they might guide us in righteousness. we ask them why. plus president russell, i'm now nelson, president of the church of jesus of latter day saints, who served his here this day, we're grateful for the gospel of jesus christ, which brought martha to this country. and we say these things in the name of jesus christ, amen. ladies and gentlemen, this the ceremony. thank you for joining us